Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

Strutless kite in development on Maui

Forum for kitesurfers
User avatar
stringy
Medium Poster
Posts: 180
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:35 pm
Local Beach: seattle, wa
Style: freeriding
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: seattle, wa
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0
Contact:

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby stringy » Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:03 pm

hi paul,
I had the same thoughts and some skepticism on how well this kite would relaunch in water.
the proof will be at the coast when I drop it in the wash zone and see how well it does at relaunch :o
so when I grabbed the gopro, it was really only for a small portion of my session.
I just held the camera by the floaty back door in my mouth.
I should patent that mount! :lol:
anyhow earlier in my session I pearled my board at a high speed and ended up dropping the kite.
I intended on spending a significant amount of time performing a deep water relaunch while bobbing. this is much more challenging than standing in 2 feet of water like in the video. I'll say that it relaunched just as easily as from standing in one spot. the biggest factor other than the shape of the LE, is those wingtip struts. there are pretty large and vertical when the kite is LE down. these act as goal posts and help keep the canopy from sitting in the water. once the wind hits the canopy it opens and fills with wind making relaunch pretty effortless. very impressive relaunch.

BigPaul
Frequent Poster
Posts: 311
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:54 am
Local Beach: Manchester
Style: Free ride
Gear: North
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby BigPaul » Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:57 pm

Good to hear, thanks for the quick response.

I will have to start saving again :-)

User avatar
tautologies
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 10864
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 5:36 am
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Oahu
Has thanked: 100 times
Been thanked: 156 times
Contact:

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby tautologies » Mon Feb 18, 2013 1:47 am

GregK wrote:Paul - watch Stringy solo-launch his cloud closely - I think the key to getting the unsupported canopy in the middle of the kite to fill, to come up off the ground or water surface and dump off any sand ( from a solo-launch ) or water ( water re-launch ) is to pull a steering line to spin the kite around.

Then the wind will catch the under-side of the canopy beside the supported wingtip and then work from that side across to the centre of the kite and on to the other side, filling or tensioning the canopy. From there, with some tension on a steering line, that side of the kite will lift off from the water and the kite pivots and takes off pretty hot - you can see all this happen when Stringy relaunches after releasing the kite to leash.

Granted the above is from an armchair kite pilot, dreaming and scheming a way to get the cash together to acquire a quiver of these very intresting kites....
Self launch / water relaunch is the same as any other kite. I bet reverse launch is possible too.

I don't think it would differ much at all. To have the kite slide minimally put the kite with the side to the wind. Once you walk backwards, it will be ok.

Same things for waves...any kite caught by waves will get worked. Maybe slightly higher chance of contorting the LE, but having seen kites with 7 struts getting bundled up, I am not sure there is that much difference. I was worried on my ride...but that was absolutely not an issue. I guessing it is the same here.

My point is that the discussions we're having now seems similar to the ones we had with the helix where people as recent as a few days ago thought the sigma shape would take off from the beach when the reality is that is behaves similar to any other kite when it comes to sitting on the beach. I am quite confident all these factors have been tested and retested..maybe even more than once ;-)

Nice vid. What do you estimate the wind to be? Looks pretty glassy. (just don't say 2-4 knots :lol: ).

User avatar
Pierrot
Frequent Poster
Posts: 250
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:07 pm
Kiting since: 2008
Weight: 80
Gear: Aluula Roam 10m, North neo 10m, 7m, 5m
Hydrofoil Ketos,
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 52 times
Contact:

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby Pierrot » Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:04 am

So, how is the upwind on the Cloud?
I read in one of the post that it sits further back in the wind window than what the tester was used to. What does it means for upwind?

flipper231
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 547
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:01 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby flipper231 » Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:20 am

Wow... mid to upper teens being called marginal... Marginal is average 10 with holes around 7 and gusts at 11... Mid to upper teens is getting fun for almost any kite in the 10-17m range....Thanks for sharing your video and experience with the kite and for reminding me to move to a place more windy.

Michelks
Medium Poster
Posts: 90
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:37 pm
Local Beach: Sao Sebastiao- Brazil
Favorite Beaches: tahiti, buzios
Style: freerider
Gear: crossbow 16, vegas 14,switchblade 12, crossbow 10
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby Michelks » Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:17 pm

Nice vid.
I don´t know if this is the right way to evaluate a kite speed, but for me the kite seems slow, it takes 3 to 4 secs to a downloop e 6 to 7 secs to a complete loop.
I compared to a video of mine with a rebel 14 in 13 knots and it takes 2 secs for downloop and 4 secs to a complete kiteloop. I consider the Rebel 14 a slow/ medium speed kite.

BWD
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 3848
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 3:37 am
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 81 times

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby BWD » Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:43 pm

Kites turn slower when you ride at them , and in lower wind range...

turfAndsurf
Medium Poster
Posts: 121
Joined: Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:46 am
Local Beach: San Diego
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: San Diego
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby turfAndsurf » Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:39 pm

I also think because he let out his bar when he looped it, when I loop my current kite I will usually pull in the bar, in the other vids they turn pretty fast.

User avatar
windfreak74
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 566
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:16 am
Kiting since: 2005
Weight: 70 kg
Local Beach: la trinchera
Favorite Beaches: maule region
Style: weird style!
Gear: switch helium3 7m 2018
Crazyfly 115 x 44 Chill 2021
nobile 2hd 134x42 2018
Manta foil 2015/2018
Brand Affiliation: none
Location: Chile/Brasil
Has thanked: 28 times
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby windfreak74 » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:34 pm

So im looking for a light wind kite but still cant make up my mind on the size.
13 o17?
would like to use this kite in 10 to 16 knots, i have a 12 and a 9 sle for the rest o wind range.
Im155 lbs,6 years riding and have a 135X47 dimitri board for ligth wind.
anyone?

Blake
Medium Poster
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:04 am
Local Beach: Sandbanks and Presqu'ile
Favorite Beaches: Mirlo Beach in Hatteras
Style: Old school
Gear: Board Riding Maui and Ocean Rodeo
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Trenton, Ontario, Canada
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Strutless kite in development on Maui

Postby Blake » Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:00 am

Windfreak

I've only used my 13m on the snow so far, but at your weight I'm thinking the 13m would suit your needs quite well. A good power producing kite in the winds you are talking about.

Blake


Return to “Kitesurfing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Abaltasis, airsail, Blackened, bshmng, DanielorDani, decay, elrizo, FunOnTheWater, gl, Indulang, jjm, joop, Manxman, omg, SENDIT!, Vivo3d, Xtream and 417 guests